Maggie, a young interpreter, believes perfect justice can't be achieved without perfect rulers, so she fights the corrupt despots of an 1830s British Colony. And tries not to fall in love with Jeremy, her hot-headed foolish ally who is romantically pursued by a wealthy widow. Magistrates commit murder, the natives mistake a missionary as an incarnation of the sacred Rainbow Serpent come to end white settlement, and Maggie could lose her head - literally. JOHN IVOR weaves a taut and surprising conclusion to his story of struggle in the early days of Australia's richest state.